Chaos in Oneself
by shinytinfoil
Summary: A feral gone wild: Can Mutant X teach her control? Finished! Input appreciated!
1. The Animal

Summary: A feral gone wild is taken in by Mutant X. Can the team teach her to control her instincts?  
  
Pairings: J/E and B/Danny  
  
Note: This is my first fic, and I want reviews (praise and flames!) so I can get a feel for this writing thing. Also, all you B/S fans- TOO BAD! I am not putting any- I repeat- ANY!- B/S action in this story. I do not think they are meant to be and that is just that. Or have you forgotten that I am the author here?  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the clothes on my back and an idustrial strength weed-wacker. Sue me if you like- but then you'll be responsible for a fourteen year old writer pulling weeds in her front yard naked, and we really don't want that. Do we?  
  
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In a forest, in a cave, a group of human figures slept, bodies dirty and tangled together, flies buzzing around their heads. They slept like animals, legs twitching as they chased imaginary prey, growls coming from some throats instead of snores. Some were inpossibly hairy, fur covering their faces; while some had sharp canine teeth or clawed fingers. Together in their cave, they looked like what they acted like: a pack of dirty, animal predators sleeping off a big meal.  
  
But I sat apart from the others, unable to sleep as I stared out at the starred sky. My face was covered in grime, but fur free, and underneath all that dirt was the pretty young woman I had been. My dirty, torn clothing was covered in blood, but not my own. Sitting there, hugging my knees to my chest, I felt small and alone. A tear slipped from my dark eyes unchecked, and made a track through the dirt on my cheek to fall off my chin.   
  
What have I done? I wondered, remembering the hunt, and the kill, remembering how I had enjoyed it, had enjoyed the feeling of dangerous freedom, my blood pumping wildly through my body as I had chased the prey with the others. But after the kill, while the others gorged, I had simply stared at the corpse in horror, not even noticing the blood that splattered me. A part of my mind remembered other hunts, other feasts where I had eaten along with the rest, and a part of me was glad that I was no longer so- so- primitive. Yes, that was the word. Primitive, primal. Animal-like. But another part wanted to feel that carefree feeling I had had, like a drug addict wants to be high again. So I sat as my mind battled with itself.  
  
In the distance, a mountain lion called, and I answered unthinking, my voice perfectly mimicing the cougar's cry. "Stay away, night brother," my call said, "You aren't wanted here." Neither am I, I realized. But where else can I go? Not back home, where I was just a freak, unwelcome even to my family. I knew I would have to start all over again, but how? I couldn't just crawl into a town, looking like I did. Even if I washed myself off, got new clothes, there was still that part of me that craved the wildness. What if I lost control again? The thought of killing made me shudder now, but what if that changed? I couldn't answer that, so I sat as my mind battled with itself.   
  
I finally slept just inside the cave entrance, curled up in an instinctive cat-like ball, the moon shining across my face and glinting off the tears.   
  
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The pack woke up around noon, their meals disgested and their stomachs empty. Falco, the leader of the pack, announced a hunt with a series of high pitched yips, and the others followed him out of the cave, some on their feet and some on all fours.  
  
Glad to be alone, I sat on my haunches in front of the cave, smelling the fresh green scent of the pine trees and wondering if I should feel guilty about letting the pack hunt, instead of trying to stop them. Probably not, I decided. I couldn't have stopped them anyways; I was stronger than most of them, but against all of them together, I didn't have a chance.  
  
My musings were interrupted by the sound of footsteps not too far away. Not part of the pack; none of them wore shoes and these people had shoes on. Panicked, I wondered what I should do. I settled for scurrying into the cave, my lithe, slender body moving with the ease of a cat, even in panic. I held my breath and prayed that they wouldn't come into the cave, even put my hands over my ears so I wouldn't hear them in a childish attempt to make them dissapear.  
  
But they didn't dissapear, and after a minute two heads ducked into the cave, one blond and one brunette. That was all I noted about them before I scrambled away from them, to press myself into the far corner as though I could melt into the wall. For the brunette was holding a handful of lightning and my feral self feared it terribly.  
  
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We stared at each other for a moment, as I tried to control the frenzied fear the lightning was working up. Finally the blond reached out to nudge her friend's arm. "Turn it off, Bren," she said, her low voice washing over me and calming me the tiniest bit. "You're scaring her." She crouched and held out her hands to show that she wasn't going to attack.  
  
The one with the lightning wasn't so trusting. "You've seen what they did to those people, Shal. She's a monster." I yelped and hid my face against the wall, shielding myself from his words. But they still stung, and I agreed with him: I was a monster.  
  
"She probably couldn't help it, Brennan." The blond said, her tone irritated. I got the sense that they had had this arguement before. "Why if my dna mutates out of control, huh? What if I end up like her? Would you call me a monster?" Dimly my mind realized what she meant, that she was like me; well, like I had been before.  
  
The man closed his fist and the lightning disappeared. I relaxed, and considered detaching myself from the wall, but he pointed a finger at me. "I can bring it back. So no funny business, got that?"  
  
My lips quirked and threatened to smile as I sat back onto my heels. "If by funny business you mean attacking you, I wasn't going to. I'm not like that anymore." Remembering, I cast my eyes down.  
  
"Not like the others?" The woman asked, keeping her voice soft and persuesive, like someone coaxing an animal out of a burrow.  
  
I shook my head slightly. "No. If I was, I'd be with them right now, hunting." I shuddered.   
  
"You mean killing." The man moved forward, and I cringed back, expecting a blow.  
  
"Brennan," His friend said, kicking him in the leg. "Stop it. You're making things worse. She's-"  
  
I interrupted. "Yes." I put my head in my hands. "Killing. They are." I sighed and slid down to a more comfortable seating position, expecting a discussion. I looked up to make eye contact with the woman, and got a sense of her animal self, hidden just behind her eyes. I decided to risk it. "I'm Danny."  
  
She smiled and settled back on her heels. "Shalimar." She glanced up at her companion, who was towering over us. "He's Brennan. We're from Mutant X."  
  
I frowned. "Mutant X?"  
  
"We're a group of people who help New Mutants like you." She kept her voice the same, gentle and quiet. Still trying to coax me out of my proverbial burrow.  
  
"People like me?" I stood up and turned my back, pacing a bit. "Phsyco people who sometimes sprout claws and run around on all fours? Maniacal killers who act and think like cats?"  
  
She didn't move from her spot on the floor. "You're not a phsyco and you're not a maniacal killer. You're a feral."  
  
I turned and tilted my head at the word. "Feral? As in wild cats?" My lips twitched at the comparison. It fit.  
  
She grinned. "Yeah. But ferals can also be bear, or deer, or even fish."  
  
I snorted. "Fish? Do they sprout gills and spawn upstream?"  
  
"Don't laugh. How would you like it?" Shalimar's features had arranged themselves in a slight scowl. I sobered.  
  
"What about him?" I gestured to the lightning man, not looking at him.  
  
"He's an elemental. There are also psionics and moleculars. More about that later. Let's get you out of here." She stood and reached for my arm. I drew back.  
  
"To where?" Where could I go that I didn't endanger myself or others?  
  
"To Sanctuary. Adam can help you with your changes, maybe keep them from happening all together."  
  
I shook my head. "I can't. I'll lose control and hurt someone, maybe even kill again. I can't let that happen."  
  
For the first time, Brennan spoke almost kindly in my direction. "Adam can fix you so you don't lose control ever again."  
  
"That's not exactly true, Bren," Shalimar said with a frown. "He can make it so that your dna isn't mutating so fast," she informed me, "So your human self can learn to control the changes. But learning control is hard work."  
  
"I don't care," I said, grabbing the promise of control like a lifeline. "Whatever it takes. I don't want to kill another human being, ever."  
  
She smiled at my vehemence. "Lets go see Adam, then."  
  
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I followed them out of the cave, then stopped, smelling all-too-familiar scents not so far off. "Um, Shalimar?" I gulped, looking in the direction of the smells with my eyes glowing yellow.  
  
"What?" she said, looking in the same direction. "I don't see anything."  
  
I glanced at her, then pointed. "On the side of the mountain, coming towards us." When she still didn't react, I explained. "The others! They're coming!"  
  
"Shit," Shalimar said, sincerely. "Jesse?" She spoke the name as though there was another person standing right there with us, prompting me to look around. But a new voice came, not from a new person, but from the silver ring on Shalimar's finger.  
  
"Yeah, Shal?" The voice was masculine, slightly burred but pleasant enough.  
  
"Uncloak the Helix and prep for takeoff."  
  
A plane materialized out of thin air on the ridge nearby. Not your ordinary 747, though, this thing was slick, like something out of the sci-fi shows I used to watch all the time. The thought of TV made me crave Discovery Channel and Star Trek, but I shoved that aside. All in good time, my mind noted before returning to the present. I glanced from the plane to the approaching pack, then back again. I shook my head. "We won't make that in time." Then I amended that. "You two won't make it in time."  
  
"Woah," Brennan said, a bit sarcastically. "Cocky, aren't we?"  
  
I raised my eyebrows in his general direction, not really focusing on the conversation. "Not cocky." I grinned. "Just fast." My mind formulated a plan and I turned to the others.  
  
"OK. You two," I pointed, just in case they thought I meant someone else. "Start running towards your plane-thingy and have your guy," I gestured to Shalimar's hand, "Take off and fly over to that ridge." I pointed to a rocky outcropping on the other side of the valley, higher than the one their plane currently rested on. "As soon as you two are on the plane, I'll run there and you can pick me up. Unless..." I turned to them. "You wouldn't have some kind of beam-me-up-scotty thing, would you?"  
  
Brennan grinned. "Not beam-me-up-scotty, but close enough. We could have Jesse hover over," he gestured above his head, "And I could take one of you with me."  
  
I looked from myself to Shalimar, who was looking amused at our brainstorming. She was cleaner than I was, I finally decided. Much cleaner. And I couldn't be sure that she could make that jump on her own, but I knew I could. "Take Shalimar." I glanced at the rocky wall that held the cave. It looked solid enough.  
  
The plane, meanwhile, had flown over to hover a good thirty feet above us, as close as the cliffs and trees allowed. Brennan looped his arm around the blond and fired a blue streak directly at the ground, making him steadily rise. I waited until they were both safely inside the plane, noting the exact location of the door. Then, with one glance towards the pack, which I could see now, I jumped towards a spot halfway up on the cliff face, kicking off to grab the door of the plane. Using my powers had been a bad idea, I realized as I felt the animal rising up inside of me.   
  
Calling upon my last stores of human strength, I heaved myself over and landed on my knees just inside the door, so close that it pushed me in when it closed. I fell forward onto my hands and breathed deeply, trying to slow my pulse down and fight the animal feeling. A hand reached out to touch my shoulder and I jerked away with a growl. "Don't," I gasped, pulling even farther away. "God," I groaned and folded into a fetal position, shaking as I tried to control my animal side. My fingernails dug into my arms as they formed claws, and I welcomed the pain as a deterrant to further changes.   
  
"Adam," Shalimar's voice yelled. "She's changing."  
  
A new voice came out of nowhere, though I didn't notice that at the time. "Nothing you can do, Shal. Just get her here."   
  
My mouth was bleeding as razor sharp canines formed, and I opened my mouth to scream, but it came out a screech; a cat's pain filled yowls filled echoed through the plane. I felt like I was being dragged underneath the surface of a lake and couldn't swim. I was dimly aware of the thrum of the engines stopping and of someone picking me up: I tried to fend them off but couldn't move. Then I felt a sharp sting in my arm and everything went blissfully black.  
  
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So, what do you think? Please review! As soon as I get... oh, say, ten reviews (from different people), I will post the next chapter. That includes flames, so let me know! Now if you will excuse me, I have yard work to do. 


	2. The Delicate Balance

Author's Note: While this is NOT a self-insertion, it is written in first person pov because nobody ever does that. Duh.   
  
Another Author's Note: The rating is for suggestive language and situations. I promise I will restrain myself and not write any Brennan/Danny sex scenes, much as I might want to. (Okay, so in a way it is a Brennan fantasy, but who can blame me?) There is real content, though, so read it and skip the romance scenes if you wish.  
  
Another Author's Note: My Mother read my story and the first thing she said was "Aidan is a boy's name." I know this. I just like it better as a girl's name. And there is something really sexy about a girl with a guy's name. And I will NEVER spell Danny with an "i". (yuck!) That looks like Bambi, and puts in mind ditsy girls with fake boobs and bleach blond hair. Danny is not ditsy nor does she have fake boobs or bleach blond hair. And she will never, ever wear cherry red lipstick, this I promise you.  
  
Disclaimer Mock II: I forgot to mention, before, that I happen to own Danny. She is MINE. Brennan is not mine (*sob*) and neither is Shalimar, Jesse, Emma, Adam, Santuary, the Double Helix... This is getting exhausting, so I'll stop. You get the picture. But Danny is mine, and you can't have her.  
  
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"She's coming around."   
  
I blinked a couple of times to clear my vision and sat up to see a kind face with eyes that crackled with intelligence and awareness. "Hello." The man said, his voice identifying him as the one I had heard on the plane. Unsure, I drew back into the chair I had been lounging in. "Please don't be afraid. My name is Adam, and this is Emma." He gestured to a pretty brunette woman who came into my line of vision to smile kindly. "You're in a safe place, and we'll help you here."  
  
"You can stop my dna from mutating?" I hardly dared to hope, even after Shalimar's reassurances.  
  
The woman- Emma- smiled. "Well, he's already done that. You're fine."  
  
Adam nodded. "I've stabalized your human dna so you won't ever lose yourself like that again."  
  
I sighed in relief and pushed myself up. "Thats good," I said, since he seemed to want a response. I noticed that my hands were caked with blood and dirt and was repulsed. "Would it be possible for me to wash off?"  
  
He smiled again. "Of course. We'll have time to talk later. Emma will show you where you can shower, and she'll give you a change of clothes." I was glad he had mentioned clothes; I had wanted to ask but thought it might be asking a bit much. I pushed myself off the chair and stood, waiting for my legs to support me with out shaking. I followed Emma out of the room, leaving Adam alone in the lab.  
  
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I stood in the shower, letting the water cascade down my body, reveling in the sheer pleasure of getting clean, a purr escaping unchecked from my throat. I combed my hair out with my fingers, patiently untangling each snarl. Untangled, it fell almost to my waist in a long, straight sheet, black as satin in the water. I gave myself one last, thorough scrub, the soft scabs of my cuts peeling off along with the dirt, but I ignored it. Under the dirt, my skin was paler than pale, but I didn't care, it was CLEAN. After a bit longer, I turned the water off and reached for the towel Emma had left me, squeezing excess moisture out of my hair. Once dry, I pulled on the clothes the quiet brunette had given me to wear, loving the feel of the clean clothes against my clean skin. It was just a tank top and a pair of sweat pants, plus a couple of necessary undergarments, but they felt like heaven compared to the filthy things I had peeled off. After running a comb through my hair, I scooped up the latter set of garments between thumb and forefinger, holding them away from my oh-so-clean self, and walked down the hall in search of a trash can.   
  
Instead I came upon the two who had rescued me, who were sparring on a round platform. A second man stood off to the side, blond with the beginnings of a beard and a laid back feel to his stance. Inhaling, I caught his new scent, the mixture of smells that each person possessed, like a fingerprint. He smelled of soap and computers and... I sniffed again to be sure. Yes, I could smell Emma on him, and I smiled to myself, having figured out why the young woman had seemed so preoccupied. I turned my nose to my two 'rescuers'. Shalimar smelled of sweat and feral and happy contentment, enjoying her exercise. Brennan... Brennan smelled mostly of fixed nitrogen, the smell you smell after a thunderstorm. I liked how he smelled.   
  
Then Shalimar saw me and smiled in greeting. "Hey, Danny. Almost didn't recognize you."  
  
Brennan turned around and stared, which boosted my ego just the tiniest bit. When Shalimar elbowed him, he stuttered. "Ah, yeah, you... you clean up well."  
  
I allowed myself a smile. "Thanks. I was wondering if there was a place I could maybe burn these?" I gestured to the rags I held in my hand.  
  
Shalimar jumped down from the platform. "You can just throw them away. All our trash gets burned anyway." She held open a cabinet and I dropped my old clothes into the can concealed there.  
  
"Thanks. I'm Aidan Foster, by the way. Don't think you got my whole name, before." I felt I could trust these people, all of whom, except for Adam, smelled slightly exotic, which signified, for my sensitive nose, that they were New Mutants.  
  
She smiled and took the hand I offered. "Shalimar Foxx." The blond Emma-scented man came to offer his hand.  
  
"Jesse Kilmartin."  
  
I recognized that voice. "From the ring-thing?" I pointed to Shalimar's hand.  
  
He grinned and released my hand. "Yeah. That's a comlink. We use them to talk to each other." He tugged his off and offered it to me.   
  
"Neat-o!" I exclaimed, knowing I sounded about twelve years old, but not caring. I looked up from the ring to grin at him. "Like on some science fiction show!" I handed it back.  
  
"Yep," he said, amused by me, but what-the-hey, he was taken anyways. He slipped the ring back on his finger and a couple of symbols appeared on the band, which had been smooth silver before.  
  
The smell of fixed nitrogen got stronger, and I looked up to find Brennan standing to my left, and I raised an eyebrow, inviting him to say whatever it was he wanted to say.  
  
He cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable. "That was a nice jump, back in the valley."  
  
"Thanks," I said, then waited for him to continue, for he obviously meant to say something else. The waiting was getting slightly embarassing just as Shalimar nudged him and glared slightly.  
  
"Um... I'msorryforcallingyouamonsterYou'renotreallyamonsterDoyouforgiveme?" He spat the words out faster than humanly possible, and though I understood perfectly, I liked watching him squirm under the glare of his teammate.  
  
"Huh?" I asked, keeping my face straight- barely.  
  
He sighed, composing himself. "I'm sorry I called you a monster and a killer and a phsyco."  
  
I grinned, having enjoyed my moment of torture. "Actually, phsyco was my word."  
  
His lips twitched and we almost smiled at each other, but Shalimar cleared her throat and he sobered. "All the same, I'm sorry." He offered a hand, and I shook it. "Peace, then?" he asked, with a slightly hopeful note in his voice.  
  
I smiled a cat's smile. "For now." I dropped his hand, then tilted my head to one side, still looking at him. I raised my eyebrows, to myself, beginning to get his measure. I smiled dangerously again, glaring at him to cover up my amusement. He was already groveling, no need to make him more embarassed. "Don't get too comfortable though," I practically purred, making sure the half-threat, half-promise had its desired affect before I pulled back and turned around to walk down the hall towards the lab I'd been in before, feeling a need to have things explained and knowing, somehow, that Adam could explain them. I did slam a lid on my half-aroused *ahem* urges and tuck the smug feeling I'd gotten from knowing that Brennan too, had not been completely glacial towards me, into a tight corner of my mind before entering his lab though, and promised myself I'd think about that later.  
  
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Adam was in the lab, just as I'd known he'd be, having already identified the mellow mixture of disenfectant, books and his teammates as his. He smelled like a leader, I noted from the door frame, like a sturdy, dependable leader, though Shalimar almost smelled more dominant. I was beginning to rely on my nose a lot, I noted, and decided I would ask him about it. I walked noiselessly to his side and looked at the screen he was so engrossed in. The distinct double helix of dna slowly revolved around, colors swirling and changing.  
  
"Mine?" I asked finally, and grinned when he jumped about a foot.  
  
"God!" He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. "Emma does that. I hate that."  
  
"Sorry," I said, not the least bit sorry. I gestured to the screen. "Now about this dna..."  
  
"Yes," he agreed, turning back to the screen. "About this dna." He tapped the screen and the picture zoomed in. He pointed to several violent, orange-yellow spots. "These are your feral dna." He touched a square in the corner and another picture joined it, this one with much less orange-yellow spots. "These are Shalimar's, who may, in this case, be typified as a completely normal, in-control feral. The ratio of her feral to her human is approximately 1:5. Yours is more like 1:2, closer to 1:1 than any other feral I've encountered."   
  
"Is that bad?"  
  
"It can be. Fortunatley, you seem to have a strong constitution. Your sense of humanity is strong," he clarified.  
  
"I understood what you meant." I nodded at the screen. "Keep talking."  
  
He did. "Your human dna has been fighting the takeover your feral mutations have attempted, and while it seemed to weaken, they are now almost completely stabalized."  
  
"Hm. So I lost the battle, but I won the war. With help." I shot him a grateful glance, which he acknowledged with a wave of his hand. "Is there anyway way you can reverse the changes?"  
  
He thought for a minute. "Even if I could, would you really want me to?"  
  
I frowned. Give up my incredible new sense of smell? Give up my new found speed? I didn't want that, I realized. "I guess..." I said slowly, "If I have to be abnormal, I might as well be really abnormal. Mom always said I never did anything half way." I smiled, remembering all the times she'd said that. Then my smile faded as I remembered the last thing she'd said to me, that she never wanted to see a freak like me again.  
  
"You miss her," Adam suggested softly, reaching out to touch my shoulder in sympathy.  
  
I shook my head. "No," I whispered, sniffling and fighting back tears. In doing so, I turned the tears into anger and felt the killing instinct coming back. Find her. Kill her. Rip her to shreds, it whispered seductivley in my mind's ear.  
  
"NO!" I yelled and ran blindly out of the lab, shoving past Emma, who had appeared at the door. She cried out but I didn't stop- I wasn't sure if I could stop myself from killing her. I ran through Sanctuary headlong, feral speed blurring things as I passed them, until I collapsed on the floor, sobbing into my hands. Would I never be free of this monster?   
  
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How do you like it? Tell me! Please. (*makes puppy dog eyes at you*) 


	3. The Freedom's Joy

Author's Note: Some of you have pointed out that it should be the Disclaimer MACH whatever. Let me explain the concept of ridicule...  
  
Another Author's Note: Keep reviewing people! I may be mean and cynical about your advice/flames, but I appreciate every little review I get. Mean and cynical is just who I am. It's probably nothing personal.  
  
Disclaimer Mock III: I NOW OWN TWO CHARACTERS! Well, a character and a fish named Monty. But it's a start! Soon I will have an army of little fan fiction minions, and TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Ooops. Did I say that out loud? Curse it! But no matter. They cannot sue me now, because I have written a DISCLAIMER! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-*cough cough*-ha-ha-ha!  
  
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Brennan was the one who came after me eventually, finding me in a peaceful room filled with water and plants. There were little fish swimming around in the water, and I was on my stomach on a platform above the pool, my chin cushioned by one arm, the other reaching down barely enough to tickle a big-eyed black fish with a gentle fingertip. I felt him sit next to me but did not acknowledge his presence.  
  
The fish, whom I had decided to call Monty, had just decided he liked being tickled and was rubbing against my finger enthusiastically (he was a weird little fish) when he spoke. "You're pretty fast, you know that?"  
  
I made a noise in the back of my throat, not allowing him to shatter my calm by making me move anything but my finger, including my jaw.  
  
"When you ran by, you were practically a blur."  
  
I decided to move. I pushed myself forward slightly so I could reach down with both hands, a strand of my hair falling out of place and touching the water. I gently cupped Monty in both hands for a moment, them let him go to swim away with his friends. I pushed back up and folded both arms under my chin, and Brennan and I shared a companionable silence, listening to the water.  
  
After a minute, I spoke. "Is Emma okay?"  
  
"Yeah," he replied. "She was pretty shaken up, but not from the fall." He fell silent again, frowning down at the water. I waited. He would get to it eventually.  
  
Abruptly, he turned. "She said- There was all this hate inside of you. To feel that kind of anger, it scared her, a little."  
  
I sat up and faced him, hugging my knees as I thought. "She hated me," I said softly, after a moment. "It was her hate that made me change." I frowned. That wasn't fair. "Well, it didn't help. I was changing in ways I didn't understand, practically becoming a whole new person, and she didn't love me anymore."   
  
I tucked my chin down so he wouldn't see the tear that slid down my cheek, but he saw it anyways. Moving slowly, so as not to startle me, he reached out and tilted my chin up to meet his eyes. I looked, and didn't see pity, which would have made me push away. Instead I saw something else- understanding. Acceptance. It threw me off, and I didn't break his gaze like I normally would have. We sat like that for a while, eyes locked, then Brennan moved forward, and I moved to meet him, our lips were almost touching- then I turned my head. He kissed my cheek.  
  
"Sorry, Brennan," I said quietly, pulling back to look into his eyes again. "But I don't think-" I bit my lip. "Its not that I don't want to. Its just- maybe I shouldn't. Not yet. I think I should get a better handle on my powers first." I smiled shakily. "There's lots of different triggers, but once I lose control, all I want to do is kill. And I really don't want to kill you."  
  
He smiled. "I don't want you to kill me either. So I'll make you a deal. If you work really hard on your control, when Adam says you're fit enough, I'll take you on a date. Deal?"  
  
I looked at him suspisiously. "What kind of date?"  
  
"Whatever kind you want."  
  
I thought about it. "You're on."  
  
He grinned. "Good." He leaned forward and kissed my cheek again, then stood up. "C'mon. You have work to do." He offered me a hand and we walked out of the room hand-in-hand. I sighed. I had a lot of work to do.  
  
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"Concentrate!" Adam said, beginning to get frustrated with me. We were in the dojo and Adam was trying to teach me a meditation tecnique to clear my mind and control my heartbeat. We had already been working three hours and I still hadn't gotten it.  
  
Suddenly I rose from my cross-legged position on the floor. "Its the music," I said, as though having an epiphany. I hit 'stop' on the cd player and the Yanni-style music stopped playing, thank God. I slipped into Brennan's room, having found out that Brennan had the most extensive cd collection known to man, and returned with the Nirvana Greatest Hits cd.  
  
"That'll never work," Adam said as I took out the former cd and slipped Nirvana in its place. I set it to play Track 5 over and over and cracked the volume up several notches. Smells Like Teen Spirit blasted out of the Sanctuary-wide speakers and I walked back up to sit in the exact center of the dojo. I put my hands on my knees and breathed in and out to a count of seven, listening to the music.  
  
Slowly my mind emptied until all I thought about was the pounding rhythm of the song that practically invented the mosh pit. Then I slid even deeper until my mind was completely blank: Never had I felt so peaceful. The killing began trying to force itself on my mind. No, I thought, creasing my forehead in concentration. I won't listen you anymore. GO AWAY. Please, I added as an afterthought.  
  
And it did. I was so surprised that I snapped out of my meditation, springing up from the ground. I looked around, practically in panic, until I saw Adam and Emma staring at me. "What happened?" I asked, breathless. Emma reached over to turn off the music without taking her eyes off me, and I repeated the question.  
  
Adam opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. "You got it," he said, sounding so surprised that I had to laugh. And then couldn't stop laughing. I fell over, clutching my sides and rolling around, wheezing in breathless spasms of laughter. I hit a pair of legs and looked up, still giggling.  
  
"What in the world?" Brennan asked, looking down at me with a puzzled frown, which only made me start laughing harder. Holding onto my sides with one arm, I crawled around him to the stairs and sat, trying to get myself under control.  
  
Brennan sounded amused. "What am I going to do with you?" he asked, sounding every bit the exasperated parent.  
  
I managed to stop laughing long enough to reply. "You are going to do nothing with me, thank you very much. If anything is going to be done about me, I will-" I had to stop to let a burst of laughter out. "I will do it myself." I collapsed again, laughing so hard I fell over sideways and rolled down the stairs, stopping at the bottom with a muffled "ow."  
  
Adam helped me up, unable to keep the laughter out of his voice. "Lets do it again," he said, keeping both hands on my shoulders as he lead me back up the stairs I had fallen down, me still giggling quietly. "This time-" He pushed me down. "-try not to amuse yourself so much." I giggled but stopped right away, forcing my features into something I hoped resembled a serious frown.   
  
Adam turned on the music and I heard Brennan say, "Hey! Isn't that my cd?" before I slipped into my meditative trance once more.  
  
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I woke up in the middle of that night, restless, and was about to put on my headphones so I could meditate to my (admittedly loud) music without waking up the others when I heard faint voices coming from the lab. I slid out from under my covers and padded cat-quiet down the hall, my nose catching a distinct smell outside Emma's room, telling me that Jesse was *ahem* visiting. I ignored that and continued to the lab.   
  
I saw Brennan crouched outside the door at the same time he saw me; he raised a finger to his lips in unnecessary warning. I crouched on the other side of the door frame and began listening in on the conversation.  
  
"-seems to be coming along well," I heard Adam say.  
  
"She seemed to be handling her instincts okay," Shalimar added. Brennan and I exchanged a smile.  
  
"That is without any added stimuli," Adam said. "Any sudden, major emotional or hormonal shift could revert whatever delicate balance she's created." I wrinkled my nose, but kept listening.  
  
"You think we should go ahead with combat training?"   
  
Adam sighed. "Yes. Start in the shielded dojo, with Jesse. When she can control herself in those settings, then you spar her, but keep the dojo shielded and have Jesse standing by. When she progresses far enough along, you can unshield the dojo, but make sure Emma is there to subdue her if necessary. We'll go from there." That sounded fun.  
  
There was a pause, then Shalimar said, "What do you think about Jesse and Emma?" Sensing that the conversation about me was over, I stood up and walked back to my room. Brennan followed me in and I shut the door and turned the light on.  
  
"What did she mean about Jesse and Emma?" he asked.  
  
I looked at him in disbelief. "You don't know?" I sat on the desk.  
  
He leaned against my wall and gave me a look. "If I knew, I wouldn't be asking."  
  
I scoffed and shook my head. "Men. So egotistical, yet so clueless." I looked at him seriously. "You better be glad you're so cute, 'cause women sure don't date you for your powers of observation." I dodged the pillow he launched at me with a laugh. "Okay, okay. Since you asked so very nicely." I grinned and sat up straight, delighting in the shock he was about to get. "Jesse and Emma are f*cking in Emma's room at this very-" I stopped and sniffed. "Well, a minute ago, they were."  
  
He simply looked at me. "What?"  
  
"You heard me."  
  
I watched the emotions play across his face and bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. Finally, he managed to speak again. "Wha- How- Was this the first time?"  
  
"How would I know that?" He looked at me. "All right, all right. I don't know about the sex part of the equation, but I could smell them all over each other earlier." I smiled. "They're a good couple." (AN: THEY ARE. That J/E moment in Kovakistan was the highlight of the season, though if there is more to come then so be it. BRING IT ON, SHOW WRITERS.) Brennan stuttered some more, and I grinned. "You really had no idea, did you?"  
  
He shook his head. "I need to think about this," he said, rubbing his forehead.  
  
I looked at him in mock-worry. "Don't sprain anything." He swatted at me and I dodged gleefully, tickling him on his ribs in retaliation. He grabbed my wrists and held on as I struggled to free them, and somehow I ended up with by body tucked against his. We both froze.   
  
He took a breath. "You're sure you can't-"  
  
"I'm sure." Already I could feel the animal welling up inside.  
  
He let me go and managed a smile. "Good night, Danny." He walked out.  
  
I watched him go. "Good night, Brennan," I whispered, even though he couldn't hear me. I sighed, then threw myself on my bed and put my headphones on, meditating my way into deep slumber.  
  
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Read and review, people. Wait... if you're reading this, then you have already read, which means all you now need to do is review. And don't worry, I start with combat training in the next chapter. 


	4. The Friendship

Author's Note: I love reviews! And reviewers! I got on someone's favorites list! Me! I did! Ha! Take that, Mom!  
  
Another Author's Note: My mom says I shouldn't post fan fiction because the show writers could come on the web site and steal it. Little does she know that the show writers are too busy trying to smash Brennan and Shalimar together to even consider my ideas...  
  
Disclaimer Mock IV: This grows tiresome. Why must we write these things? If I actually owned the show, would I be writing fan fiction about it? NO! I would be busy creating Mutant X Season 1 on DVD! But I don't and I'm not.  
  
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I yowled my rage and threw myself at Jesse with my claws extended, impacting with the force of a bullet against a steel wall and bouncing back with the same force. Combat training was not going well, mostly because I was having trouble focusing in the shielded dojo. The energy walls sent flashes of light straight into my eyes, and I had somehow convinced myself that it was doing it on purpose.  
  
I flew back the way I had come, and hit the evil walls of energy, which shocked me enough to snap me out of my animal frenzy. I curled up away from the wall, favoring the right side that had been hit, and watched my claws fold back into my fingertips. When my canine teeth disappeared I pushed myself up and smiled apologetically at Jesse, who was being remarkably patient with me.  
  
"You okay? You hit pretty hard that last time."  
  
I shook myself off, checking for damages. I was okay.  
  
"What's the problem?" Adam's voice came through the walls.  
  
I rubbed my eyes and tried to see where he was. Jesse had no problem seeing through, and pointed helpfully for me. Adressing his general direction, I replied. "It's these walls," I told him, squeezing the bridge of my nose to ward off my approaching headache. "The light keeps bouncing back into my eyes and messing up my concentration. And it smells awful."  
  
Jesse sniffed. "I don't smell anything."  
  
"You're not a feral," Adam said, sounding as though he understood the problem. He turned off the shield and contemplated me for a moment.  
  
"What about a safe house?" Emma suggested, having walked in in time to hear the tail end of the conversation. She smiled lovingly at Jesse, though I don't think she meant to. "I can take her. If she gets out of control, I can snap her out of it pretty fast."  
  
Adam thought about it, while I crossed my fingers behind my back. Finally he looked at my feet. "She'll need shoes," he looked at my pajama-like clothing, "And some street clothes."   
  
I was dismayed, the mere thought of shoes making my feet hurt. Emma glanced at me, amused, but smiled at Adam. "No problem. I'll just steal some of Shal's stuff."  
  
Adam held up a hand in caution. "We don't want her to get all territorial on Danny." I shuddered at the thought of the fierce blond turning her temper on me, having witnessed her chewing out Brennan for freezing a steak that she had apparently been keeping raw in the crisper drawer. Brennan was currently hiding in his room, under the pretenses of reading poetry.  
  
I cleared my throat. "I'll find clothes." I glanced at Jesse, who was about my height, in the leg, at least. I grinned at Adam. "Shal's too short, anyways." I dashed away before they could say anything, and stole a pair of Jesse's baggy jeans, which would be more comfortable than anything Shalimar wore. They were slightly too big to fit exactly on my waist, but didn't slip past my pelvic bones, even when I shook my hips like a belly dancer, and even better, they exposed the tiny silhouette of a lioness rampant tattooed beside and just below my belly button, which I had given myself as a graduation present. My white tank top would be fine: It covered more of my torso than Emma's shirt did, even if I did have a three-inch gap of pale skin in between it and my- Jesse's- pants.   
  
Satisfied with my appearance, I strolled back to the dojo. Jesse recognized his jeans but didn't say anything, and Emma nodded approval, though Adam eyed me critically. "Can you move in those?"  
  
I demonstrated by doing a perfect butterfly kick* that skimmed the hair on the top of his head, landing lightly on the balls of my feet. Adam frowned. "Where'd you learn to do that? Jesse didn't teach you that."  
  
I grinned sheepishly. "I'm a third degree black belt in taekwondo."   
  
"I knew I'd heard your name somewhere," Jesse said, thumping his forehead with his hand. He looked at me with a new respect in his eyes. "You placed at Nationals, a few years ago."  
  
"That was a long time ago," I said ruefully. "After I went to college, I never had time to practice."  
  
"Why didn't you say something before?" Adam sounded aggrieved.   
  
I sighed. "There's a saying: You need not unsay what you did not say in the first place. Besides, I figured you ran a background check the minute you got my full name."  
  
Adam snapped his fingers and walked quickly to the computer console, bringing up a window. Instantly my most recent mug shot filled the screen, and I winced, it not being a very flattering picture, a bruise on my cheekbone puffing up my face. "Bar fight," I muttered to Emma, who had made a questioning noise. "You should've seen the other guy." She looked amused- what was so funny about me?  
  
"Aidan Cheyenne Foster," Adam read. "Born November 12, 1981** in Boone, North Carolina, graduated from high school 1998, already with an impressive criminal record. Three counts reckless driving, four counts drunk and disorderly-"  
  
"I was not drunk," I interrupted. "I was... being feral. They didn't know what to call it, so they labeled it D+D and sent me to rehab, the assholes." I made a face. "I hate rehab."   
  
"Me too," Emma commented softly, and I wondered what had sent the quiet brunette to rehab.  
  
"What about the reckless driving?" Jesse asked.  
  
I grinned mischeiviously. "Oh, well, those are, at least, founded in truth. I like cars." Then I clarified. "I like fast cars, and I like winning money by racing fast cars."  
  
Emma snorted. "So does Brennan, only with his powers," she flexed her fingers to demonstrate, "He could also boost the cars fast as the blink of an eye."  
  
My mind rolled with the possibilities. "I had a Shelby Mustang, back in high school. A '72, GT-500." I groaned in remembrance. "Man, she could fly. They took her away after the third time I got caught racing. I miss that car."  
  
Emma smiled slyly. "We have quite the collection of cars here at Sanctuary, including a couple Mustangs if you-"  
  
"No racing," Adam interrupted. "Absolutely no racing and no taking the cars out without another person with you. Is that clear?"   
  
I made a face. "Yes, Daddy."  
  
He pointed a finger at me, his stern expression softening. "None of that, now. I'm just Adam."  
  
I smiled and followed Emma down to the garage, where she wouldn't let me drive, even though I did my puppy-dog eyes face at her.  
  
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Emma parked outside a bookstore and I followed her in, wondering what we were doing there. Then I caught a whiff of Adam's scent floating around the musty old bookstore and realized this must lead to what Emma had called a safe house, so I relaxed and looked around.  
  
It was a great old bookstore, the kind filled from floor to ceiling with wonderful old books waiting for you to read them. The close confines of the shelves made Emma look slightly claustrophobic, and a part of me agreed with her, but most of me loved it: you could get lost for days in a place like this, it seemed. But now was not the time to get lost, and I kept Emma in my sight as she wound her way through the shelves.  
  
Finally, she seemed to find what she was looking for. "Dammit, Ruby. You need signs in this place." I looked over the man she spoke to, inhaling his scent for clues about him. He smelled like the bookstore, like a pastrami sandwich with banana peppers, and like a New Mutant, but there was something about him I didn't like.  
  
He had started to say something to Emma but stopped and stared at me, prompting me to raise an eyebrow as though to say, "What?" I crossed my arms defensively over my chest and stared back at him, just to see how long he would hold it, but Emma had to break the tension.  
  
"Ruby, this is Danny. Danny, this is Ruby. He owns the bookstore." I didn't respond. "Say hello, Danny."  
  
"Hello, Danny," I dutifully repeated, still glaring at this weak person.  
  
Emma turned to Ruby. "Ruby, Danny's a feral, and we need to use your safe house for training."  
  
The man smiled at Emma, obviously trying to maintain is composure. I wondered mildly if he would pee in his pants. "Go ahead. You know you're always welcome at my store. But, Emma-" He glanced at me sidelong. "-I'd be careful. She might bite your head off."  
  
I lunged forward with a snarl, pinning him to the bookshelf behind him. "I would never bite Emma's head off," I whispered dangerously, smelling him sweat in fear and pushing aside my disgust. "Emma has strength and integrity written all over her. I respect her. You-" I sniffed him exaggeratedly as he squinted his eyes up and squirmed. "-have a backbone made of popsicle sticks and scotch tape. I could snap you in two with my bare hands."   
  
He finally lost it and an awful smell reached my nose. Disgusted, I dropped him and turned to Emma, who looked shocked. "Where is this safe house?" She pointed and I stalked in that direction.  
  
Emma caught up with me. "That wasn't very nice," she remarked.   
  
I shrugged. "I don't like him."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
I thought about it, and when I got down to it, there was only one reason. "He let me do that."  
  
Emma looked confused, so I explained. "He probably could have stopped me, if he'd tried. But he didn't." I paused. "He'd be easy to torture."   
  
We reached a dead-end corner and Emma pulled a book partway out. The wall rotated halfway around and Emma slid through the gap. I followed.  
  
"You're right," Emma said thoughtfully. "He gave Adam away once, to a guy named Eckhart. I guess you're a pretty good judge of character."  
  
I shrugged off the compliment and looked around at the room. In comparison to the messy bookstore, this place was neat and polished, high-tech looking in it's metallic sheen. It was a pretty cool place.  
  
When I finished my scrutiny of the room, I turned to find Emma regarding me speculatively. "What?" I asked.  
  
"What you told Ruby about me- did you mean that?"  
  
"Mhmm." I straddled a chair nearby, propping my arms up on the back.  
  
"What have I done to earn your respect?" She seemed honestly confused and I realized that not many people saw past her quiet calm to her inner strength, least of all herself.  
  
I thought about her question. "You're stronger than anyone thinks you are, but you don't tell them that. And you're a helluvalot more patient than I could ever be." I stopped and looked at her again. "And I don't think Jesse would get involved with just anybody."  
  
She started. "How did you-"  
  
I laughed. "I'm not blind, you know. And my sense of smell is a lot keener than most."  
  
She blushed. "This is embarassing," she muttered, sitting down in another chair.  
  
Now it was my turn to be confused. "Why? Why should something you think is right embarass you? Because I know? Why should my opinion matter?" I sat up and studied her for a minute. "And in any case, I approve."  
  
She smiled slightly when I said that. "You do?"  
  
"Yeah. I mean, you two are obviously happy. Why wouldn't I want you to be happy?"  
  
She looked down. "Because you're not happy."  
  
I reached over and put a hand on her shoulder so she'd look at me. "I'm getting there," I said quietly, meaning it.  
  
Regreting my moment of openness, I pushed backwards out of my chair. "Now. Lets get to the part where I kick your ass." She grinned and, without warning, took a swing at me. I ducked and retaliated with a round kick to her head, which she barely blocked. We continued sparring easily, enjoying the workout. And I did not lose my temper once the entire time.   
  
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* A butterfly kick is a 360 inverted jump spin cresent kick. You pick up your back knee and spin around 180 degrees, then jump off the other leg + wack your opponent with the inside of that foot, usually on their head. It is quite an impressive kick when done correctly.  
  
**I don't know what year Mutant X is set in, so I'm saying it's 2003. So Aidan is twenty-two, for those of you with no math skills. (I had to use a calculator, hehehe.)  
  
Note: There will be more Emma/Jesse stuff in the next chapter, if you review and ask nicely. 


	5. Author's Note

From the Author:  
  
I am trying to get more Emma/Jesse stuff in but it's hard because the thing is written in Danny's P.O.V. and she can't spend all her time thinking about Emma + Jesse! (well, she could, but then I couldn't move on with the story)  
  
Anyways, I'm working very hard to get the next part done. It has a lot of action in it and hopefully Danny begins to have a purpose, rather than just entertainment. Villains and damsels in distress and... I can't give it away, but you get the idea. I might be putting a scene or two in Emma's P.O.V., or possibly Adam's, so we can see what the team thinks of Danny... But I don't know if that's a good idea, so I want feedback on it. Please!  
  
Also, keep reviewing! I love watching the number go up! Two, then five, then eight, then eleven... It's grand!  
  
Next chapter soon,  
K.A.T.E. 


	6. The Catastrophe

Author's Note: I decided to add a scene from Emma's P.O.V., to see what it does for the story (and the reviews, *hint hint*). So the last scene in this chapter is in third person P.O.V., limited to Emma.   
  
Another Author's Note: I tried for damsel in distress, but all I came up with was a Shalimar. Oh well.   
  
Disclaimer Mock V: For those of you who have not been paying attention these last few chapters, allow me to summarize my disclaimers: I do not own Mutant X. I own the clothes on my back, an industrial strength weed-wacker, Danny, and a big-eyed fish named Monty. If I did own the show, I would stop writing fan fiction about it, and there would be Mutant X Season 1 on DVD.   
  
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"Come on!" I yelled at the TV, forgetting that it was five o'clock in the morning. "Cover your right side! He's gonna break away! See! I told you!" I threw a pillow at the screen. "Shoddy defense!"  
  
Brennan shuffled into the room, followed by Shalimar. "Who plays football at five a.m.?" He asked, scratching his scalp groggily.  
  
"Not football," I told him, mind still on the TV, "Discovery Channel."  
  
"Oooh," Shal said as though that explained everything. "Who's winning?" She climbed over the back of the couch to sit next to me.  
  
"At the moment, the gazelle. But the lions are re-grouping and should come back full force." I pulled another piece of pepperoni out of the package and bit it thoughtfully. "Though if their attack patterns don't shape up, they're gonna run themselves out."  
  
Shal nodded and ate a piece of pepperoni. "These things are so bad for you."  
  
"And yet you're eating them."  
  
She grinned. "Doesn't mean they don't taste good."  
  
Brennan leaned on the back of the couch between our heads. "Lemme get this straight: You're telling lions how to hunt gazelle at the top of your lungs at five o'clock in the morning."  
  
I looked at him and tried to keep my face straight. "Yeah, that's pretty much it."   
  
He rubbed his eyes. "You're crazy. Both of you."  
  
I hit him with a pillow. "And you're still asleep."  
  
Jesse and Emma chose that moment to walk in, still pulling their clothes on. "What's up?" Emma yawned.  
  
"Hey, you two," Shalimar said playfully. "What took you so long, huh?"  
  
Jesse grinned. "Emma couldn't find her underwear."  
  
Emma gasped and shoved him. "Well, if you hadn't taken them off by your desk them they wouldn't have been in the trash can, now would they?"  
  
"Woah," Brennan said. "That's a little too much information a little too early in the morning."  
  
"You could always go back to bed," I teased, shoving him towards the door.  
  
"Maybe I will," he said, and started walking away. Then, quick as a flash, he turned and lunged at me.  
  
"No! No!" I shrieked, squirming around, trying to get enough arm space to tickle back. "I surrender! Media violence made me do it! Ahhhhh!" Finally I managed to get a hold on him and pushed him over my head with my legs, keeping a hold on him so I ended up on top. "Your turn," I said, with no little satisfaction, and began tickling him mercilessly.   
  
"What's going on?" Adam's voice came from the doorway. I stopped tickling Brennan, but didn't get up off his abdomen. Adam looked amused. "Can't I leave you guys along for two seconds?"  
  
"We're not the problem, Adam," Jesse said. "It's the girls who are acting up. They've got us out numbered." Emma and Shalimar shoved him simultaneously.  
  
"Danny," Brennan gasped, "I can't breathe."  
  
I grinned down at him. "Breathing is unnecessary." I turned back to Adam. "Sleep well?" I asked, a bit sarcastically, because I knew perfectly well that he had fallen asleep on the keyboard in his lab around 2 a.m. I had been on my way to meditate, being practically nocturnal myself.  
  
He glared at me as thanks for my kindness. I grinned, not about to let anything destroy my good mood, and was about to say something sarcastic when Brennan grabbed my shoulder and rolled, distracting me slightly. But I used his momentum against him and ended up pinning him again, this time holding his arms down so he couldn't try that again.  
  
"HA!" I said triumphantly, "I win again."   
  
"You need to work on your wrestling, Brennan," Jesse remarked. "She's gotta be at least forty pounds lighter than you, and she's still kicking your ass."  
  
Brennan struggled at bit, trying to get loose and possibly attack Jesse. Finally he managed to get a foot hooked around my ankle and pulled in, collapsing that side- and then he was on top.  
  
"How about that, huh?"  
  
I smiled sweetly. "Yes. How about that?" That was all the warning he got before I flipped him over my head and he landed on his back, rather hard.  
  
"Ooof," he gasped, winded. I rolled over and propped my head up on my elbows, smiling down into his eyes in a distinctly cat-like way.   
  
"Judo classes, every Tuesday night, back when I was eleven," I said, wrinkling my nose playfully at him while he tried to catch his breath. "Amazing, how it all comes back."  
  
"Yeah, yeah," he said, pulling himself up. "I'll get you someday. Just not at five a.m., k?" Looking up from the floor, I didn't reply. He trudged off down the hall. "Don't wake me up till noon!" he yelled over his shoulder.  
  
"No promises!" I yelled after him, beginning to get up.  
  
There was silence after he left, broken by a beeping noise on the main computer, which Adam went over to investigate. "New Mutant," he said after a moment. "Wants into the Underground. Says to meet him at Ajax Warehouses in an hour."  
  
"Ajax Warehouses?" Shalimar said, turning away from the TV. "Thats right near here."  
  
Adam nodded and looked at me thoughtfully. I looked back, trying to look just as thoughtful. After a second or two, he spoke. "You seem to have yourself pretty under-control, right?" I nodded. "Do you think you could control yourself around a stranger? I heard what you did to Ruby."  
  
I held up my right hand, beginning to see where he was going with this. "Scout's honor," I promised him.  
  
"OK, you can go with the others." He looked at the rest. "You guys are all going, in case Danny can't handle it."  
  
I made a face. I was being baby-sat, but oh well. I walked over to the sink and began filling a pitcher with water.  
  
"What are you doing?" Emma asked.  
  
"I," I said, deftly turning off the faucet, "Am going to wake up Brennan."  
  
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We exited the plane, which was called the Double Helix, and Brennan, Shalimar and I went to meet the New Mutant, leaving Jesse and Emma with the Helix and a lot of time on their hands.   
  
Something smelled off when we entered the room, but Shalimar didn't look bothered, so I didn't say anything. We walked through the warehouse silently, as I tried to look as cool as Brennan and Shalimar did, but I wasn't wearing leather, so it was hard. Near the back door of the warehouse stood a figure, and a nervous one, shifting from foot to foot and craning his neck around the door as though to watch for approaching enemies.   
  
Sensing the presence of others, I stopped, but being her usual bold self, Shal strode right up. "Hi, we're from Mutant X-" She was cut off when the figure whirled around and shot a hypospray into her neck, which made her instantly unconscious. In the same moment, two men jumped down from the ceiling between Shal and Brennan and I, and spraying Brennan and I with a high-powered jet of water, effectively blinding my senses and completely disabling Brennan.  
  
Then, as soon as they had come they were gone- and they had taken Shalimar with them! That on top of being wet sent me into a full-on feral rage and I started after them, but Brennan grabbed me.  
  
"No, Danny!" he yelled, fighting to hold onto the hissing and screaming me, "You can't get caught too! We'll find her!" But he was wet, and so he was weakened, and I wasn't listening to reason anymore. I tore away and ran after the van they had driven away, determined to bring pain to the people who had stolen a member of what I was beginning to consider my new pack.  
  
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Emma had to shut out the panicked feelings of Jesse, Brennan, and Adam, and try to sift through her own emotions at the same time, which wasn't easy. The others seemed to think that Shal was already dead and that Danny was going to be soon. But Emma had more faith in Danny than that. Just as Danny had seen through her, she had seen through the tempestuous feral with her seemingly on-the-sleeve emotions. Danny wasn't as cocksure as she wanted people to think, but she wasn't stupid. She had gotten basic control over her powers in two days, give or take, and though she couldn't handle strong emotions, that was a commendable feat, considering the power of the emotions Emma had felt earlier. Only a strong person could feel that kind of hate and come out unscathed. She felt sure that Shalimar and Danny would be fine.  
  
Jesse, however, was as unsure as he could be. Shalimar was one of his best friends, and he knew how competent she was, but he tended to see the worst about a situation, and so he was already planning a funeral speech in his head. Emma knew she could do little to help him, but she laid a hand on his back and sent him a quick calming thought. His back muscles relaxed slightly under her hand and he shot her a half-smile that made her heart skip a beat, even in the present situation. She stroked his back with her thumb to remind him that she was still there, and turned her attention to the other two.  
  
Brennan was distraught. It was as plain as the nose on his face that he considered the whole thing his fault, and was beating himself up for it inside. Surprisingly, he was more worried about Danny than Shalimar, prompting Emma to wonder what was between the two of them that she hadn't sensed, or if it was a one sided thing. Danny flirted with him, sure, but Brennan was the only single guy in Sanctuary, besides Adam, whom everyone thought of as a father figure with no sex life. And Danny was like Shalimar in that area- she flirted with everyone, male or female. But she'd seemed genuinely happy this morning, wrestling with Brennan... She'd think about that later. Right now she had to reassure her teammates.  
  
"It'll be okay, guys," she voiced softly. "Give them some credit. They're both strong. They can fight their way out of anything."  
  
"Not if Shalimar's unconscious and Danny's out of control," Adam said, knuckling his forehead in frustration. "I should have never let Danny go. She wasn't ready."  
  
"If it had been Danny who'd been grabbed, Shal would have lost it, too. It's really not Danny's fault." She realized how stupid that sounded and winced. "What I mean is, Shal would lose control if any of us got grabbed. And with Brennan soaked, he wouldn't be able to stop either of them. You letting Danny go has nothing to do with this. So-" Not breaking her contact with Jesse, which was keeping her upright as far as she was concerned, she reached over and gently pulled Adam's fist away from his head. "-no use beating yourself up about it now. Why don't we focus on trying to find these kidnappers and pin the blame on them." She smiled but the other's didn't catch the joke.  
  
"We have nothing," Adam said through his teeth, "No logo, no lisense plate number, not a com-link signal. I couldn't even trace that e-mail to it's source. We are flailing around in the dark here."  
  
"We do know something," Emma reminded them, willing them to wake up and think about it. All three looked up at her in surprise. "They know about Mutant X. They know about Brennan's weaknesses. They even know enough about us to take Shal's com-link off. Who would know stuff like that? Think, guys..."  
  
All three reached her conclusion at the same time and they shared a moment of shocked, horrified silence.   
  
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Da-da-da-dummmmmmm. Thought I'd give you a nice cliff-hanger-ish ending. Please review and comment on the P.O.V. thing. If you don't like it, I don't have to do it again, but I thought it'd be nice to have a different perspective on things. Danny is still the main character, and most of the story will still be from her P.O.V., never fear. But let me know. 


	7. The Truth

Author's Note: Sorry about the delay! Enjoy! (Or not. Who am I to tell what to do?)  
  
Disclaimer Mock VI: I do not own the show because then I wouldn't have made Brennan act like such an asshole in this weeks episode. That really sucked and rest assured that my story will not do that to him. Anyways, I have another character to add to my repetoire: A doctor of the scientific persuation. And a nameless needle happy thug, but he doesn't count, being nameless, you see.  
  
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With my nose, I was able to follow their van to its destination without keeping them in sight, and the long run helped to cool me down a little. Not a lot, but enough so that I started thinking reasonably again- not about going back, but about how to get Shal out. I realized I couldn't just burst in, guns a'blazin, and started to formulate a plan of sorts.  
  
With my powers and Shalimar's, we could easily get out of anything. But Shal could still be unconscious, which meant that I would have to drag her out of where-ever and fight off potential attackers at the same time, which would be difficult. So I would have to remain unseen, and they couldn't know that Shal was gone until we were away. I wanted to beat those people up, but Shal would have to be hidden away somewhere first...   
  
I saw the van park and ducked out of sight into some bushes by the road. From my hiding place I watched them drag a barely conscious Shalimar out of the back and into a building, and winced. The building was obviously heavily secured. This could be more difficult than anticipated, I thought, brow creased and I crept around to the side of the building, where there weren't any guards. I looked up. Three stories, straight vertical. No problem. In seconds I was on the roof.  
  
The building was the "mass produced" kind designed to be built fast, so while the security had been beefed up, the roof was still made of replaceable tiles that could be lifted, if you were a feral. I slid in and replaced the tile behind me before looking at where I was, and when I did I wished I hadn't. I hate air ducts, I thought, but it served my purpose for the time being. Being extremely careful not to make noise, because in reality, air ducts echo, I crawled to the nearest vent and sniffed. No people. I opened the vent and dropped down, noiseless, then took a bigger sniff. I caught the scents of three people on this floor, including Shal's. I followed Shal's scent.  
  
She was in a room, strapped to a chair by means of metal straps, and she was struggling violently as two men watched her. I caught the sharp smell of blood and realized that the cuffs were cutting into Shal's wrists as she tugged against them.  
  
"Shall I sedate her?" one of the men wondered, hand already reaching for the hypospray like he really wanted to.  
  
"No," the other one said, his voice cold, "She'll wear herself out."  
  
No she wouldn't. "Shal," I whispered, my voice barely audible to me, but Shal's sharp ears caught it, and she froze.  
  
"There, you see," the cold one breathed, "Already she realizes it is futile. Now come. Dr. Hellan has asked that we speak to him." And they left, leaving Shal alone. Or so they thought.  
  
The moment they were out of sight I came out of hiding to stand in front of Shal, trying to imitate the cold one's frozen stance.  
  
"Danny," Shal whispered, relieved. "Thank God. Where are the others?"  
  
I smiled apologetically. "No others. Just me." I flicked a claw out and began manipulating the lock on her left wrist.  
  
She frowned. "Why not others?"  
  
I unlocked her arm before replying and started on the other one. "I lost it." I glanced at her, guilty and expecting a reprimand.   
  
Instead, she grinned. "Good. I don't think Adam would let me beat that asshole up. And I plan to." I freed her other arm and started on her feet, which were held by one lock, though a more complex one than the arms.  
  
"You'll have to wait your turn," I told her, frowning in concentration.  
  
She shook her head. "Nuh-huh. We have a history, Thorne and I. I get first."  
  
"Thorne?" I had almost figured out the lock, but slowed down so that Shal'd tell me before she was free.  
  
"Yeah. Used to be a minion of Eckhart's." She growled and her eyes glowed yellow as she contemplated the man.  
  
"Eckhart? Emma mentioned him. What'd he do?"  
  
Unexpectedly, she grinned at me. "I keep forgetting you don't know. Eckhart ran Genomex, back before the fall. He was New Mutant enemy numero uno, for a while."  
  
"And this Thorne guy was numero dos. Was Eckhart a New Mutant, too?"  
  
"How'd you know Thorne was a New Mutant? Never mind." She sighed. "No, Eckhart was one of Adam's collegues, under a guy named Breedlove."  
  
"As in the Breedlove Clinics? Was that a cover or something for Genomex?"  
  
"Sometimes. Anyways, Eckhart had a problem with Adam because of an accident that collapsed his immune system, which meant he had to wear a plastic skin at all times." I wrinkled my nose at the thought of how that would smell, but didn't interrupt. "Adam defected, which put Eckhart second-in-command under Breedlove, until Breedlove died, when he became first."  
  
  
I smiled grimly. "What a marvelous coincidence."  
  
She smiled back, just as grimly. "That's what Adam said. But nothing could be proved, because the building burned. But I will bet the steak I've got hidden in my room that Thorne did it."  
  
"No bets there. He smells like a murderer. Bloody."  
  
"My nose isn't half as good as yours and I still get that. They should put ferals in law enforcement." She grinned at the thought, then glared at me. "Aren't you done with that lock yet?"  
  
I sighed and resumed my careful lock picking. A few seconds later, she was free and I barely managed to grab her arm before she walked out into the hall.   
  
"What?" she demanded.  
  
"We should go unseen. We need to know what they're doing," I explained when she would have protested. "Why they need a doctor."  
  
"To set his bones when I'm done with him," she snarled, but saw the merit of my suggestion, and we carefully made our way down the hall and down the stairs, which we simply vaulted down instead of walking. I followed Thorne's scent to a room on the ground floor, where he was arguing with a thin man in a white coat.  
  
"Dr. Hellan, I presume," I muttered to Shal, who nodded. I could barely hear them from outside the thick doors, so I crept around to an air vent in the next room, with Shal behind me.  
  
"We can't waste such a strong feral!" Thorne was saying. "Not until the device is stable."  
  
Dr. Hellan didn't agree. "The control she has over her powers should keep her from regressing."  
  
"That was what you thought about the Foster girl, but we've lost her completely."  
  
"If we'd kept them here instead of in the valley, we wouldn't have lost her, not would we?"   
  
Thorne's voice went dangerously soft. "What are you saying?" Before Hellan could reply, he continued. "You're saying we should have kept twenty homocidal ferals in the facility?"  
  
I didn't hear Hellan's reply, if he made one, having realized the implications of what they were saying, and instantly went cold. These people had done this to me, had made me lose control so that I killed people, so that I ran wild in a valley with others whose lives they'd ruined- and they didn't care. My rage exploded inside of me, and I slammed through the vent into the room, blood on my mind.  
  
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Emma gasped as the wave of anger hit her, and staggered into Jesse, who caught her.  
  
"What is it, Emma?" Adam's concerned face swam next to Jesse's.  
  
She closed her eyes, blocking them out. "I got a hit off of Danny."  
  
Brennan instantly snapped closer. "Where is she? Is she okay?"  
  
"I don't know. She's angrier than I've ever felt her before." The power of the feral's emotions had her confused, and she wrenched her mind away from the contact, but not before catching a glimpse of a familiar face swimming in blood.  
  
"She's going to kill him," she whispered, horrified at feeling such murderous emotions.  
  
"Who? Where? What about Shal?"   
  
"Thorne. She's going to kill Thorne. I don't know where, and I don't know about Shal. Should I try to get the contact back?" Inwardly, she shuddered at the thought, but she would if it would help Danny.   
  
Adam rubbed his temples. "No. No need for you to. If Danny has completely lost control, then she probably isn't thinking about where she is. Try-" Suddenly Shal's voice interrupted.  
  
"Adam! You there?"  
  
"Shalimar," he said, not trying to keep the relief out of his voice. "Where are you?"  
  
"I dunno, some ex-government place. Track my comlink and bring the Helix; Danny's down."  
  
"What happened?" Adam asked.   
  
"Is she alive?" Brennan put in.  
  
"Thorne gave her a parting present of a knife in the gut. It's missed anything vital, as far as I can tell, but she needs medical attention a.s.a.p."  
  
"On it's way." All four of them ran towards hangar. "What about Thorne?"  
  
She sighed. "Don't ask, Adam. Its a mess here. Hurry."  
  
"We are, Shal. Try to keep her stable." As the Helix took off, Adam prayed that they would get there before the authorities arrived- or worse, before Danny died.  
  
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Author's Note: Am I getting good at this cliffhanger thing? I'm tempted not to add the next chapter for a few days... Unless, of course, you reviewers tell me otherwise. 


	8. Tomorrow Is Another Day

Author's Note: Sorry about the delay, but here it is!   
  
Disclaimer Mock VII: Blah...blah...blah...witty coment...blah...blah...I don't own Mutant X...blah blah... (Sorry, my sense of humor just isn't working today and the reminder that I do not own Brennan just further depresses me.)  
  
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I tried not throw up as Brennan carried me to the Helix, knowing, even in my semi-conscious state, that vomiting would make matters worse than they already were. I was covered in blood from head to toe like sick red paint, some of it Thorne's and some of it mine, though the two were indistinguishable. I knew it was hard for Brennan to carry me, because I was so slick with the blood and curled in such a tight, painful ball, but he didn't complain and I tried not to, though an occasional whimper escaped even my firmest control as Brennan ran down a flight of stairs. Dimly I realized that Emma was running along side us, probably to wipe the memories of anyone who happened to see me, and some detached part of my mind pictured Jesse or Adam coming behind with a towel or something to wipe up blood.   
  
Finally we reached the Helix and I got put down and leaned against the wall. Blinking to clear my vision, I looked to my right and saw Brennan hovering next to me.  
  
"Sorry I messed up your shirt," I said weakly, nodding towards the large stain on his black t-shirt.  
  
He glanced down and touched the spot, then smiled at me. "Its okay. I have others."  
  
I looked at myself. "Tell Jesse I'm sorry about his pants, too." The jeans were beyond repair, so saturated that they probably weighed three times more than they should.  
  
Brennan reached out to touch my cheek, despite the blood. "We don't care about the clothes. We care about you." His tone was so genuinely caring I almost felt like crying, and I looked away, trying to shift to a more comfortable position, and succeeded in sending a wave of nauseus pain up my side.  
  
"Not gonna try that again," I muttered when it passed. Then I realized that Brennan had gotten even closer and looked extremely worried. "I'm okay, Bren, really. I promise."  
  
"I don't believe you," he informed me with an expression that was almost a smile. "But I think you might live."  
  
I made a face. "Darn. After I worked out all those funeral arraignments." That got a laugh out of him, and I was glad to see him relax.  
  
Adam, Jesse and Shalimar thumped onto the Helix, followed by Emma, who had been waiting outside.  
  
"How ya doing, Danny?" Shal asked, trying to keep her voice upbeat, which I appreciated.  
  
"I'm aight," I replied, giving her a half-smile.  
  
"Hang in there, k?" Jesse said, taking the controls and pushing buttons.  
  
"I'm not going anywhere," I assured him. I dropped my head onto Brennan's shoulder when we took off, and fought the sleep that my body desperately wanted. I had lost control twice in the same day, and got it back as well, which was tiring in itself. That coupled with the shock of the wound was exhausting. Realizing my problem, Brennan began talking to me, about nothing in particular, just trying to keep me awake. His rich voice just lulled me more, but I understood his need to do something to help, and gripped his shirt in silent thanks as he talked on.   
  
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I woke up in my bed sometime later, feeling much better. The bloody clothing was gone and replaced with another pair of Jesse's pants and another tank top, this one black. I lifted the hem of the shirt to look at the neatly stitched two-and-a-half inch cut on my abdomen. A clean wound, Adam had said, missing my stomach by millimeters and my spleen by less than that. Not as deep as it had first appeared, it was healing nicely and quickly, thanks to the fact that my metabolism is faster than a normal human's, but I still had to be careful in my movements, lest I tear the wound open again.   
  
I slid out of bed, being truly careful, and walked out of my room, my nose locating Brennan's scent easily. He was in his room, probably still trying to assign blame to himself for what had happened to me. I had tried to explain that it wasn't his fault, that he could have done nothing to stop me, but I had had very little time for that between first aid and bed, and I meant to set him straight now.  
  
He was sitting on his bed trying to read his poetry, but his eyes weren't focused on the page and I could tell his mind was far away. I watched him for a moment from the doorway, and when my eyes had gotten their fill I knocked quietly on the door frame.   
  
He looked up and smiled in welcome. "Hey, sleepyhead. Come on in." He put the book away and sat up.  
  
I returned his smile and moved to sit on the end of his bed, across from him, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me to sit next to him, close enough that I should have felt uncomfortable, but didn't, instead relishing the warmth his body provided. His fingers twined with mine and for a moment we sat as I watched his thumb stroke the back of my hand.  
  
"It wasn't your fault, Brennan," I said, knowing the moment had to be shattered for an instant.  
  
He shifted uncomfortably. "I should've been able to stop you," he said, more to himself than to me.  
  
I sat up and turned my body so that I faced him, needing him to believe me. "You couldn't have. Nothing could have. Not you, not anybody. I was pissed off, Bren."   
  
He smiled wryly. "Bit of an understatement," he said, reaching up to caress my cheekbone.  
  
I wouldn't be diverted. "You'll stop beating yourself up about it?" I locked eyes with him.  
  
He nodded and moved forward; this time I didn't turn away and our lips met, gently at first and then with the urgency built up of waiting, of delaying something you so desperately wanted. For as much as I had been telling myself otherwise, I wanted the dark-haired elemental quite badly just then, and it was becoming exceedingly clear that he felt the same, as he cupped my shoulder and rolled me onto my back.   
  
"This isn't being careful," I panted when we came up for air, but made no effort to pull away.  
  
He planted a trail of kisses down my neck, making me shiver. "Adam didn't tell me to be careful," he muttered against my lips. "You just hold still."  
  
"To hell with that." Quick as the blink of an eye, I rolled him over and held his shoulders down, smiling mischeiviously into his eyes. "YOU hold still."  
  
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Emma smiled as she severed the link between her mind and Danny's before things became embarassing, glad to have had her suspiscions confirmed and equally glad to have two of her friends so happy. Briefly she touched on the sleeping minds of Adam and Shalimar, both of whom were sleeping off yesterday's ordeal. Shalimar was having a nightmare about the carnage Danny had made Thorne, so she sent her a calming vision. Adam was so deeply asleep he wasn't even dreaming, which was a rare thing for the troubled genius. Everyone had been more worried about Danny than they had let on, but Danny was fine now. At the moment, better than fine.   
  
Happy, Emma squirmed slightly in her bed, which made Jesse rouse enough to wrap his arms around her before dropping off again, breath warming her ear. She sighed and turned to kiss his forehead before settling herself for sleep.  
  
After all, her mind noted whimsically, tomorrow is another day.  
  
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Author's Note: About the stab wound. I am no doctor, being a fourteen year old freshman with no life, but I looked at my book of human anatomy and the spleen and the stomach reside roughly side-by-side on your left and I'm saying Thorne's knife slipped right between them. And I know it takes a normal human much longer than six or seven hours to be able to do much of anything after being stabbed, but I speed up Danny's metabolism so that I could get on with the story and not bore you with a lot of "Oh, my stomach, the pain, the agony, I'm going to die..." REVIEW! 


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